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Topic: Dmitri's Dacha (Read 224593 times)

Have just heard Mravinsky's 1938 premiere recording of Symphony 5 which is absolutely marvellous, very slow and linking the work much closer to the sound world of Symphony 4 (which I had always thought a far superior work). I strongly recommend this recording if you can find it although, of course, you have to make allowances for the sound quality.

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"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

uffeviking

I saw this at amazon, but never heard of the conductor Bobritskaia. It sells at $120.00 new and for $36.00 used. No information on the orchestra! It's on the Russian Label.The list of works on this disc is impressive, but before I spend 36 bucks I would like to know more about it. I have the Chailly recording of Jazz Suite No. 1.

Steve

I saw this at amazon, but never heard of the conductor Bobritskaia. It sells at $120.00 new and for $36.00 used. No information on the orchestra! It's on the Russian Label.The list of works on this disc is impressive, but before I spend 36 bucks I would like to know more about it. I have the Chailly recording of Jazz Suite No. 1.

uffeviking

Intensive research showed me that Bobritskaia is a pianist! No conductor is every mentioned. Could this mean he plays the entire selection on the piano, a piano version of each piece? Very puzzling indeed, but thanks for your input!

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Drasko

Intensive research showed me that Bobritskaia is a pianist! No conductor is every mentioned. Could this mean he plays the entire selection on the piano, a piano version of each piece? Very puzzling indeed, but thanks for your input!

uffeviking

Thanks so much, Drasko! You cleared up the confusion because I thought those are two different editions, one with the tennis player the other with the piglets! The one with the pigs I found listed for the 120 bucks new and 36 for used. $9.28 certainly is more affordable! I lost the site where they make Bobritskai a pianist!

And all this confusion and search and effort by you, about music shunned by some as irrelevant but I see as an important aide to understanding Shostakovich.

And all this confusion and search and effort by you, about music shunned by some as irrelevant but I see as an important aide to understanding Shostakovich.

You won't catch me slighting this music, Lis! Even though I haven't heard any of it.

I'll be all ears when and if you comment on this disc!

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Veit Bach-a baker who found his greatest pleasure in a little cittern which he took with him even into the mill and played while the grinding was going on. In this way he had a chance to have the rhythm drilled into him. And this was the beginning of a musical inclination in his descendants. JS Bach

For some reason, since I started collecting classical music, I have avoided Shostakovich as if he were the devil himself. For some reason, I just expected his music to be crap. I really don't know why, but I did. I think it may be because all the praise he received seemed to be celebrating things that I didn't particularly care about, and any criticism seemed to be about things that were truly important to me musically...

..Well, earlier today, I was on YouTube, and the thought struck me out of nowhere "Hey, maybe I should find a video of that Shostakovich guy everyone seems to like, see what all the fuss is about". So I did a search and clicked on Mravinsky conducting the finale of his fifth symphony. Well, if you didn't see where this story was going already, I've listened to just about every Shostakovich piece that has been posted on YouTube, and it still isn't enough. I'm already hooked, and I don't even own a single CD. Since I have no money to spend on music at present, and when I do I'll probably not be able to swing more than about sixty dollars, I think my next purchase may be the Jansons set of Shostakovich symphonies, since that's just in my price range, and I've heard good things about it around here.

There's certainly enough advice for a new Shostakovich fan around this forum, but if anyone wants to recommend a better way to spend that amount of money, don't hesitate to say so.

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-DetUudslukkelige

"My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary." - Martin Luther

There's certainly enough advice for a new Shostakovich fan around this forum, but if anyone wants to recommend a better way to spend that amount of money, don't hesitate to say so.

The symphonies are a great place to start, make no mistake. And Jansons is a top-notch Shostakovich interpreter. Should make a perfect Shostakovich 'starter kit'.

Later, as your money situation improves, you might look into some of the fabulous individual symphony recordings out there. But for now, no doubt, a single box is the most cost-effective way to go.

Further down the road you might look into investing in a cost-effective box set of the complete string quartets. For about the same $60.00 you can have all the quartets from groups like the Borodin SQ or the Danel SQ (my personal fave).

So, good luck!

« Last Edit: June 25, 2007, 07:36:40 PM by donwyn »

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Veit Bach-a baker who found his greatest pleasure in a little cittern which he took with him even into the mill and played while the grinding was going on. In this way he had a chance to have the rhythm drilled into him. And this was the beginning of a musical inclination in his descendants. JS Bach

George

For some reason, since I started collecting classical music, I have avoided Shostakovich as if he were the devil himself. For some reason, I just expected his music to be crap. I really don't know why, but I did. I think it may be because all the praise he received seemed to be celebrating things that I didn't particularly care about, and any criticism seemed to be about things that were truly important to me musically...

..Well, earlier today, I was on YouTube, and the thought struck me out of nowhere "Hey, maybe I should find a video of that Shostakovich guy everyone seems to like, see what all the fuss is about". So I did a search and clicked on Mravinsky conducting the finale of his fifth symphony. Well, if you didn't see where this story was going already, I've listened to just about every Shostakovich piece that has been posted on YouTube, and it still isn't enough. I'm already hooked, and I don't even own a single CD. Since I have no money to spend on music at present, and when I do I'll probably not be able to swing more than about sixty dollars, I think my next purchase may be the Jansons set of Shostakovich symphonies, since that's just in my price range, and I've heard good things about it around here.

There's certainly enough advice for a new Shostakovich fan around this forum, but if anyone wants to recommend a better way to spend that amount of money, don't hesitate to say so.

You could spend much less on the Virgin budget two-fer of the Borodin playing a number of the quartets. I think the quartets is a great place to start for this composer.